2025 Buchanan Award Winner

The 2025 Paul E. Buchanan Award is presented to the Lewis Mountain Cultural Landscape Report, a collaborative effort led by the Urban Heritage Project at the University of Pennsylvania, in partnership with Shenandoah National Park and the New York-Virginia Club. The project was a collaborative effort between Jacob Torkelson, Randall Mason, and Jane Nasta of the University of Pennsylvania, Monica Rhodes of Rhodes Heritage Group, and Kofi Boone of North Carolina State University.

This exemplary report documents the history and ongoing cultural significance of Lewis Mountain, a segregated campground in Shenandoah National Park operated by and for Black Americans from 1938 to the 1950s.

The report offers a richly layered interpretation of the site’s physical and social history, drawing on oral histories, family photographs, and lived experiences to tell a story often overlooked in historical narratives. Central to the project is the innovative engagement with the New York-Virginia Club, a community of Black families with multigenerational ties to the site, whose memories and insights shaped the report’s direction and recommendations.

Through a combination of historical research, cultural analysis, and descendant collaboration, the report presents a new model for landscape preservation: one that honors resilience and joy, while confronting the legacy of segregation. Its treatment guidelines offer thoughtful strategies for preserving the site’s historic character while supporting ongoing use and visitation by the communities who have long called it a place of belonging.

The Lewis Mountain Cultural Landscape Report stands out for its methodological rigor, ethical engagement, and the clarity with which it advances the preservation field. It honors Lewis Mountain not only as a physical site, but as a space of Black cultural expression, intergenerational gathering, and joy amid systemic exclusion. Lewis Mountain today remains a living landscape: vibrant, accessible, and just. This award exemplifies the goals of the Buchanan Award by advancing the documentation, interpretation, and stewardship of vernacular places shaped by underrepresented communities. 

https://irma.nps.gov/DataStore/Reference/Profile/2303655

Read more about past award winners, here.